OPEN SOURCE & FREE SHOPPING CARTS
BROWSE & COMPARE THESE TOP FREE SHOPPING CARTS
Vendio is one of the top free ecommerce software solutions that a merchant can choose if they want to have an online store. Ecommerce experts are constantly giving Vendio high praise for their free online store, and it continues to be extremely popular among online merchants. Vendio has the most extensive and robust feature list out of all the free online store options available. To learn more about Vendio, visit this Vendio Review Guide for a complete feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts.
CRE Loaded PCI CE is the free community edition of the CRE Loaded shopping cart, which any merchant can use in their online store. Since CRE Loaded PCI CE is community driven, all of the help and support is provided for free to merchants using the free cart. To learn more about CRE Loaded PCI CE, visit this CRE Loaded Review Guide for a complete feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts.
CubeCart has a simple free cart offering that they offer up to merchants who want something basic for their ecommerce store. Merchants enjoy that you can have unlimited products with the free version of CubeCart, and that there are no additional hidden fees. Learn more about what makes CubeCart a top choice with merchants by visiting this CubeCart Review Guide today.
FatFreeCart is one of the most simple free cart offerings online, as all you need to do is copy the code from their site and paste it onto yours. Merchants enjoy FatFreeCart as it is a straight forward offering that allows them to quickly add shopping cart functionality to any existing website. To learn more about FatFreeCart, you can visit the FatFreeCart Review Guide for a detailed feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts!
Highwire Commerce was born out of BuyItSellIt, and is a great choice for anyone looking to create their own online store. Unfortunately, Highwire just changed their offering so that it is no $6 per month instead of free. That said, their paid version still offers some great features for an almost free cost. To learn more about Highwire Commerce, visit this Highwire Commerce Review Guide for a complete feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts.
Magento has quickly risen in popularity as more web developers utilize the open source free ecommerce software solution to add ecommerce functionally to websites. Magento is extremely flexible if you have the development skills to take advantage of all of the great features which it can provide to ecommerce merchants. Learn more about what makes Magento popular with merchants by visiting this Magento Review Guide today.
Mal's Ecommerce has been providing free cart software to merchants for roughly 10 years, and it continues to be popular among those who just want a simple free shopping cart. Mal's is a common choice for people who have an existing website, but want to add shopping cart functionality to it. Learn more about what makes Mal's popular with merchants by visiting this Mal's Review Guide today.
OsCommerce is one of the oldest and most respected open source free shopping cart solutions online, that has been used by thousands of merchants over the past 10 years. Many of the newer open source shopping carts are based upon the osCommerce framework, because it has such a solid code base. To learn more about osCommerce, visit this osCommerce Review Guide for a complete feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts.
Shopster is best known for their drop shipping network, but they also have many people who choose to use their free cart offering. Merchants can test out Shopster using their free solution, so that they can determine if they want to further their relationship and upgrade to a paid solution. To learn more about Shopster, you can visit the Shopster Review Guide for a detailed feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts!
WP e-Commerce is a robust free shopping cart plugin built for the WordPress platform. This free shopping cart is very popular among WordPress users, with over 650,000 downloads to date. If you are familiar with WordPress and feel comfortable using it to power your website, then the WP e-Commerce Plugin is a great solution to use as free ecommerce software. To learn more about WP e-Commerce, you can visit the WP e-Commerce Review for a detailed feature list, customer reviews, expert review, and comparison charts!
ZenCart is one of the more popular open source free shopping cart solutions available online for ecommerce merchants. Those merchants with development skills, will have an easy time customizing all of the elements of ZenCart to meet their needs. Learn more information about what makes merchants choose ZenCart, by visting this Zen Cart Review Guide for a complete feature list, customer reviews, expert reviews, and comparison charts.
Free Ecommerce Software - Compared, Reviewed, and Rated
Free shopping carts are usually a starting point for many merchants wanting to get into the ecommerce industry, and sometimes an option for experts wanting to take a robust open source PHP script and build a feature rich online store. There are hundreds of free ecommerce software solutions out there, but very few meet the needs of today's merchant. At ZippyCart, we've covered the best free carts available and have provided expert reviews, customer reviews, feature lists, and even comparison charts so that you can compare one free shopping cart to another. Some free carts are simply scripts that you can add to an existing website while others are full featured ecommerce software solutions. Review the free shopping carts listed on this site to find the best option for you.
What to Look for in Free Ecommerce Software:
Finding the Right Free Shopping Cart
Finding the right free ecommerce software or free cart script for your online business is not always easy. Many open source shopping carts require a vast knowledge of PHP and MYSQL to fully manage your online store. Other free carts provide a simple chunk of code that you can embed into an already existing website that lets you sell products through a payment gateway like PayPal. There are also some free commerce software options out there that let you create and manage your entire online store without needing any knowledge of code. Because of these vast differences, it can sometimes be hard to determine which free shopping cart is the right option for you.
To narrow down your options, consider the following questions:
1. Are you comfortable with PHP and MYSQL?
2. Do you already have a website that you want to turn into an online store?
3. Do you already have hosting for your online store?
4. Do you have time to invest in building your online store?
5. Would you prefer a solution that can be up and running in minutes?
If you answered "YES" to questions 1-4, then you may want to consider a robust, open source option for your free shopping cart. You will need to be fairly comfortable with PHP or know somebody that is. You can also choose to use a web host like JustHost or DreamHost, as they provide easy installs for popular open source shopping carts like Zen Cart and osCommerce. You also may opt to use a simple free cart script that adds payment functionality to an already existing website. In a situation like this, you will need to manage inventory, products, marketing, and orders manually.
If you answered "NO" to any one of the first 4 questions, or answered "YES" to question 5, then you should consider free ecommerce software that is easy to use and already hosted. This is far from a simple free cart script or an open source PHP cart, but also hard to find for free. Luckily, there are options out there like Vendio and CRE Loaded which all provide a free online store. Of these options, Vendio is the best because there are no restrictions on number of products you can have. Vendio is also 100% customizable, PCI compliant, and includes almost all the features of some paid top ecommerce software on the market.
Consider all of your options when searching for the best shopping cart software for your online store. Free ecommerce software often comes with one price tag, which is the time that you invest. If you want to get a free online store up and running fast, and have all the features of many paid ecommerce solutions, then definitely consider Vendio. If you want to build your own online store and be in control of hosting, all aspects of the code, and more, then an open source PHP cart is the way to go. At ZippyCart we've compiled a combination of both, so be sure to read the free shopping cart reviews, customer reviews, feature lists, and free cart comparisons to fully vet your options before choosing the best free ecommerce software to power your online store.
